Playing a recording over and over, whether in the car or at home, is an extremely sound (sorry!!) method of learning reinforcment. Either singing along to someone else, or a recording of yourself, both work really well.

Everyone has 'blanks' sometime or another, and how you deal with it is very important, I believe. Stuttering back and forth trying to remember a line is uncomfortable for both you and your audience, so covering up by an impromptu instrumental verse (tricky if you're singing unaccompanied!), or repeating a chorus are both methods I use to try to jog the memory.

I have occasionally had a problem with songs I may have been singing for forty years - my mind wanders and I forget where I am! However, it's usually precipitated by an outside influence such as someone very noisy near the door... so I can divert attention from my failing by directing a gentle rebuke to the miscreant, then saying 'Now where was I?'...!

It's better to make light of a memory lapse rather than show you're really embarrassed... easier said than done, though.

Learning a song from scratch does take time and effort, and you should never attempt it in public until you've allowed it to percolate through your mind for a while.

Harvey Andrews finds he has to read his new songs for the first few public airings nowadays, which he works in as part of the act - he explains how he used to write a song, read it before going to sleep, then it would sink in overnight and he'd wake up in the morning to find he'd completely memorised it.

Then he explains that he still uses the same method, but finds his brain crashes overnight, so he wakes to find he has even forgotten what he was trying to remember...!

Been there!